Mots Clés

Bruchidae Vigna unguiculatareproduction diapause reproductrice

Adresse où la correspondance doit être envoyée.

Abstract

—Bruchidius atrolineatus appears at the end of the rainy season when pods of its host plant Vigna unguiculata begin to mature. The eggs are deposited along the ventral suture of pods in the vicinity of the seeds. When the eggs are not attacked by Trichogrammatidae their larvae penetrate the seeds and mortality is low during the post-embryonic development. Most of the adults emerging at pod maturity have functional reproductive organs. In-that case the females laid on the same mature pods and larvae develop inside the seeds during the first part of the drying season characterised by high diurnal temperature and low relative humity. If the first emerged adults have functional reproductive organs, the following (60% of the population) are in reproductive diapause. Such diapausing insects have been found during the dry season in shelters near the cultivated fields of Vigna unguiculata. Induction or termination of this reproductive diapause are not yet studied. This diapause probably allows the maintenance of populations during the dry season in absence of host plant.